Ignition system for internal-combustion engines.



I c. L. SILVA. V IGNITION SYSTEM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED IEB.23,1910.

995,489. I I I r I Patented June20, 1911.

WITNESSES. INVENTOR QUPMa/m. Claude L. SLlvco,

J Q. KW

A TTORNE Yd UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CLAUDE L. SILVA, OESAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOB OF TWENTY-FIVE ANDONE- HALF bNE-HUNDBEDTHS T0 PERCY J. BENBOU'GH AND FORTYNINE ONE-HUN-DREDTHS T0 H. GOON, JOHN A GILLONS, CLAIR A. NELSON, N. HABGBAVE, W. V.

OFABRELL, D. A. GABRA, L

iflIAN 1?. OWEN, A; O, WALKER, N. D. KUHLMAN, F. M.

MADISON, v. E. HAWKmsFI." "1. -1 anocKEr'r, Am) r. .J. BENBOUGH, ALL orsen DIEGO, CALIFORNIA.

reunion" s rs'rnm ron INTERNAL-COMBUSTION- Enemss.

Specification of Letters If'ateizt;

-Paana una2o;1911.

Application filed February 23, 1910. Serial n. 5,288.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, Cnarinn L. S1LvA,'a citizen of the United States,residing at San Diego, in the county of San Diego and State ofCalifornia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inIgnition Systems for Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the followingis a specification.

My present invention relates generally to ignition systems for internalcombustion engines and more particularly to an improvement upon thesystem shown and'described in my pending application filed'fMay'21,1.909, and serially numbered 498088 ,which embodies a single condenserwhich alter nately charges and discharges upon successive contacts'madeat the timer, an'dm which it is necessary to provide the timer Theobject of my present inventionis', therefore to provide an improvementwith respect .to the adaptation of ,my improved system to the use oftimers which are ployed on the use .0 mentioned. I accomplishthis-primarily by the use of two condensers which are'connected inseries and charged from a suitable source of constant current of uniformpoten tial, and by'arranging-the circuits whereby at the malie of eachthereof, one orb-these condensers is discharged and the other, is

charged, this operation alternating throughout the cycle of operations.a

In the accompanying drawing,"Figure 1 is a diagram of my improvedapparatus as applied to a two-cylinder engine, uni- Fig.2 is the same asapplied to a fours-cylinder enme. a 7 ga Referring now tojthese figures,10 represents a battery-supplying a constant current throu hconductorsll and 12 which are bridgec l adjacent said battery by thecondensers 13 and 14, connected in series by v a wire 15 from whichleads round wire 16.

current suppl means or "hat m 'ya Thus, initially, the potentia ineach'of the condensers is equal to one-half that of the battery 10,which course be a generator to be e spark plug of resent systems andthus obviate additional segments as .above driven without definiterelation to the engme. i Z

The conductors 11 and lead current and 18 of the bus-bar andfth ro'ughthe rimaries 19.0f the 'spark' coils-which imliice into their respectivesecondaries'20 and raise the potential suflicient ,mycause' a s ark toJump the gap-iii their respectives ar plugs 21. From the. primaries 19,t e current leads throngh'conduct'ors '22 to the respective segments 23,24, 25 and 26,0f the timer "27, the rotating brush 28 of which isgrounded -ZQ. 1

The operation is as follows: Condenser 13 is at zero potential when thetimerbrush 28 IS contacting with segment23 and condenser denser 14 torise in potential to that of the battery 10. ;-As the timer brush 28revolves 'and makes contact with'se'gment' 2413f the tuner, and at theinstant of contact, current tion coil 19, contact through .ground 16,-into common con ductor 15,, completing the circuit of condenser 14,-caus ing this condenser to rapidly fall to zero,,potentia As thepotential of condenser '14- falls, lines of force thread throu hsecondary coil 20 inducing current, by induction therein,of sufiicientVolta e to 'm'np the spark plug 21, causinga spark t erey. At such atime thereafter current flows from battery 10 into switch 31 throughconductor 18, rimary winding 19, into conductor 22, throng contact 24 oftimer, into brush 28, to ground; wire 29, into and through condenser 13,over conductor 11, charging condenser 18 to potential of the battery 10.As

through thesplit-and separated. portions 17 flows, fromcondenser-14min;- line conductor 12,.sw1tch 1, and conductor18,into24i%nduc-- into timer brush 28, into "grinind wire 29}, and

14 -has the potential of thebattery 10 due to a the; flowing frombattery 10, over conductor 'll, thrqugh switch 31, into conductor thetimer continues to revolve, it makes contact with segment 23, cau'singcondenser 13 to di charge, creatin a ssark thereby. This .comp etes afull cyc e. bviously t the second or condenser-chargin current flowingin opposite relation to t e first or. disor a dirty plug. This is due inpart to the absence of mechanical devices such as cams, relays,vibrators and contacts which depend upon their proper adjustment forsuccessful operation. v

In installing my improved system where a present system is in operation,the onl change to be 'm'adein the latter is to split- 1 its bus-bar toreceive the current conductors,

and this, together withthe absence of all f expenslve parts such asmagnetos insures a low first cost, while the fact that there is.

nothing to be adjusted, no lag ing to compensated, or remedied, and .tat the current consumption is-strictly in accordance with the number ofignitions made, insures an economical maintenance. J t A dual oralternative system magebe eref ated by supplyin a battery 30 to cut inby meansof ouble pole, double throw switch 31 in the conductors l1 and12, and

uith this arrangement the system operates through the ordinaryvibrators. W1th the condenserscut in, however, the discharge is Copiesof tl ils'patent may be obtained for so rapid that.the vibrator'has nottime to oscillate, and this fact eliminates the time constant thateverfllvibrator has and permits synchronous spar 'ng with relation tothe position of the pistons of multicylinder engines.

I claim: I

1. In an ignition system, a current source, two condensers in serieshavin their neutral point grounded and their connected to the currentsource, an induc tion coil having its primary and secondary windingconnected to a pole of the current source, an ignition device in thesecondary circuit, and a timer in the primary circuit.

2-. In an ignition system, a source of current, two condensers in serieshaving. their. middle point grounded and their free terminals connectedto thecurrent source, induction coils the primaries of which areconnected to the current source, i ition devices connected tothesecondarieso the induction coils, and means for producing a dischar eof one condenser through the primary win" ing of a coil' andat the sametime causing the other condenser to receive the full potential'of thecurrent source. I

3. In an electric gnition system, a current source, a pair of condensersin series havlng their middle point grounded and their free 2 terminalsconnected to the current source, a

timer h g a g ound connection, contacts" ree terminals controlled bysaid timer, induction coils having their primaries connected to thecurrent. source and to the aforesaid contacts,-

and ignition devices connected to the second aries of the inductioncoils.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CLAUDE L. SILVA.

Witnesses:

- F. A. BARRON, E. F. CAMP.

five centseach, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D.C." I

